It started as a joke to kill a classmate. Teen says ex-friend was the plot’s ‘lure and leader’

A Benton City teen locked up for a high school murder conspiracy faced his former friend Thursday and told jurors it was all her idea.

Fe Hadley was “the lure and leader” behind the plan to kill an older classmate at Kiona-Benton City High School, said Jeremiah Cunningham.

The 18-year-old, who previously admitted his role in the plot, said he was there for “brute strength. The guy that is supposed to do the job.”

Asked to clarify what that meant, Cunningham replied, “Uh, uh, kill the victim.”

Hadley, also 18, is on trial for the attempt to fatally stab a fellow student she had briefly dated.

She was 16 at the time, but was charged as an adult in Benton County Superior Court with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Her co-defendants, Cunningham and Gabriel Pfliger, both have admitted to their roles in the plot.

Cunningham testified Thursday in Hadley’s trial that it all started because the intended target, Ryan Vaughn, “was doing things he shouldn’t (have) been doing.”

Cunningham said he and a few other students were upset with Vaughn. Then one of them jokingly suggested, “What if he died?”

But he claimed to have no idea how it transitioned into an actual plan with Hadley and Pfliger.

Cunningham said he went with Pfliger to scope out the location of security cameras behind the Ki-Be Red Apple Market in the weeks before Nov. 15, 2017.

But it was left to Hadley to lure the target there since Cunningham no longer was on speaking terms with Vaughn.

Hadley and Vaughn dated for two to three weeks, but the relationship ended before the murder plot.

Hadley allegedly persisted, both through Facebook messages and in person, for Vaughn to talk with her behind the market during lunch.

At that point, Cunningham was supposed to sneak up behind Vaughn, trip him and stab him in the chest.

Cunningham testified that he had a kitchen knife with him that day, and was going to aim for Vaughn’s chest “because then he wouldn’t be able to fight back.”

Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor asked why Cunningham was going to do the stabbing, and not Hadley or Pfliger.

“Because neither of the two could do it. I mean, like strength-wise, because he was a big guy,” Cunningham answered.

Then the three were going to drag Vaughn’s body into a nearby orchard and cover it with branches. Cunningham said the forecast had called for snow, so they believed that would also help hide the body for at least a week.

Pfliger reportedly had a wooden stake with him, but he didn’t show up on time. The murder plot fell apart when they were confronted by some freshman on scooters, and then a couple seniors interfered after seeing a suspicious person wearing a red mask.

Cunningham admitted he was hiding behind a red bandanna, and said Pfliger also was supposed to wear a mask.

Vaughn took the witness stand Wednesday to say he eventually agreed to go with Hadley, but walked away from the market after seeing a masked man behind a bush beckoning to him.

‘Looking out’ for his friends

Cunningham told jurors that after Vaughn left, he was talking with Hadley when Pfliger showed up. The trio talked for a few minutes, and then returned separately to their nearby campus.

He testified that a lot of his statements to police “were completely false because I was looking out for two of my friends, that I thought were friends.”

Cunningham and Hadley had been friends since fifth-grade, and had dated before the incident. Cunningham said they weren’t together at the time but he still had feelings for her, even in the immediate aftermath.

During his two hours of testimony, Cunningham waffled between saying he was in on the planning and wanted to defend Hadley’s honor, and that he was just part of the plan organized by Hadley and Pfliger.

He said he had “doubts the entire time” and was only 50-50 certain he would have gone through with the killing.

Cunningham claimed that Pfliger was the mastermind and Hadley the leader, and he was just there as the muscle.

Prosecutors have said all along that Cunningham was the mastermind behind the plot, but they had Cunningham confirm several times in his testimony that Hadley’s role was to lure Vaughn to the back of the market.

Cunningham pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He currently is doing the time in a state juvenile facility.

Pfliger’s Juvenile Court case was on hold for some time while he underwent mental health evaluations.

He pleaded guilty this summer to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 24 hours of community service and supervision for one year.

Hadley is being held in the Benton County jail on $100,000 bail.

This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 5:00 AM.